Every
day I keep hearing that getting some research experience is
an absolute "must" now to get into a decent residency
program. What I don't understand is how to go about finding
these positions. From what I have gathered so far, most
positions are not advertised and you need contacts to get
into them. Also, I am not in the US, so would the employers
be willing to give me a position AND sponsor some form of
visa? Are there any seniors in residency programs who would
be willing to disseminate info about such positions and how
to go about it?

For a
foreign medical graduate, the only and most important thing
for getting into a residency spot in the USA is your USMLE
score. Things like research, additional degrees (eg MPH),
Indian/UK post-graduation etc - add on to your resume, but
cannot substitute for USMLE scores. If your scores do not
meet the cut off for a program, they will not even bother to
look at your other accomplishments. If you have good scores,
then other things like research, MPH etc do make you more
competitive.

Research
positions are not easily available. Most paid research
positions are for post-doctoral research - they are
primarily for PhD's or others who can work in a lab. As we
don't get any specialized basic research experience during
our MBBS, these positions are not easy for us to get into
(what we do in physio, biochem etc labs does not count).
Also, typically, the sponsor will expect you to work in that
lab for 2-3 years before you can move on to doing a
residency - which sometimes does not help us a lot because
quite a few programs now want you to have graduated from
medical school within 3-5 years when applying for
residencies. But overall, some form of research or
publications does make your application look more stellar.
However, this is more true for university programs - a lot
of research can sometimes go against you if you apply to
community programs (most of which give H1 visas). Also, keep
in mind that everyone cannot sit in a lab and do research -
you need to have an aptitude for it.

So most
people who get research positions with just MBBS background
(ie, no prior basic research experience) have come here (eg,
on a tourist or a spouse visa) - managed to hook up with
somebody, and then worked 'free' in a lab for a period of
time (usually months) - once the lab in charge gets
convinced that you can work hard, get results, and know your
way around, he/she might sponsor you for a work visa (J1/H1)
and give you a paid spot.

So to give
a straight answer to your question, I don't think any
employer will be willing to give you a position and sponsor
a visa right away (with just an MBBS background).

I am not
very optimistic that GMC alumni can be of much help - most
of us are doing 'clinical' residencies/fellowships - so
usually are not in touch with 'lab' people. However, some
who are working in a lab might be able to guide you - but
again, the biggest minus for you is a lack of prior basic
research experience - so I doubt they can get you a paid
spot someplace right away (email me at
gmccosa@yahoo.com and
I can give you the emails of a few).

So my
suggestion is - study hard and get excellent scores. Contact
us when you apply. Some alumni have been able to get
interviews to some juniors in their respective programs -
but again, we cant do much for you if you don't have good
scores!

Navneet
Majhail

(The above
statements reflect my own views, others may/may not agree
with this - and is mainly for internal medicine residencies,
though is also generally true for other specialties).

I
completely agree with Navneet sir on research experience
helping further your application, if you have an otherwise
strong application. However, I do feel that if you get solid
letters from research/clinical mentors in the US, then at
the very least you have a person from their own system
vouching for your personal abilities other than medical
knowledge and clinical acumen (unlike a letter from faculty
in India, which programs here are skeptical about-most
people know that those letters are generally more a form
letter than anything else).

From my own
personal experience, it is very true that academic
(University) programs definitely put more emphasis on the
entire package versus just looking at your scores alone.
That is not to say that scores are not important to them.

I felt one
of the biggest drawbacks/problems I faced was the fact that
programs here didn't know much about our medical college,
since it is fairly new and the numbers are relatively
smaller still. If you compared that to a school like Aga
Khan in Pakistan, 80-90% of their class (2-3X of GMC) comes
to the US and they seem to have alumni all over and people
seem to attach a significant importance to being aware of
the quality of their medical education (which doesn't
necessarily mean it is any better than ours, just someone
they know is there to vouch for it!). Hopefully, in time
we'll spread far and wide!

Gaurav

The "MUST'
part here is getting a US reco letter, which is relatively
important now. So it does not matter whether you get it
through research, observership or externship. I agree that
research is very tough to find, financially draining and you
end up wasting lot of time, but going in for an observership
is easy. Just mail programs that you will be applying for
residency in this match and say that you are interested in
getting clinical exp and blah blah...and would like to do an
observership in so and so month (whenever you are going to
be in US). Most H1 friendly hospitals are open to
observerships and you will certainly get it if you apply 4-5
months in advance.

Sonica

Research
helps, period. A good to do it is to make yourself available
to the person - means You are already in the country and you
have resources to stay and sustain. If you have those two
things, its not difficult to do.

Sanjeev

Research is
good and may seem as a rosy scenario...but believe me after
I have been looking to get into research all I have got is
NOTHING! Seriously, at least for MBBS students from INDIA
getting into a research based branch is really difficult.
Eventually one may get the admission but managing the
finances is not an easy task. And when after struggling for
some period and getting no returns, and on top wasting the
precious time which one could have devoted to prepare for PG
one thinks "Is it really worth wasting time !"

Charanjeet

All the
above views are correct but I think that good scores doesn't
mean double 99. What I have realized is that if you are
above 85 or around 90's you are fine with score. Your file
will be looked for other things like US LOR and experience.
I came to know from couple of my friends in Punjab medical
schools about the opportunity of doing internship out of
India. Don't know the details but will definitely post
whenever I get some. One guy did it in Canada. These type of
experiences will help. Want to put stress on coming to USA
as soon as possible after your internship.

Mohit

Don't get
disheartened - the key is hard work and persistence (of
course, with a little bit of luck thrown in). And as Sonica
has mentioned, use the internet - everything is easily
accessible and available on institution websites. Go through
them to find out what research area interests you. Email
people - the worst they can do is not read your email and
just delete it, or even worse, they might say no. But if you
get a favorable response from 1 in 100 queries, it is still
worth the effort. So keep on trying...